Waukesha postpones public meeting on Great Lakes water diversion application

Waukesha -- Mayor Larry Nelson has canceled a Dec. 8 public hearing and special Common Council meeting on the city's proposed switch to Lake Michigan water.

The meeting will be rescheduled in early January to give city staff more time to complete a draft application, officials said.

Waukesha intends to seek the approval of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and each of the governors of the seven other Great Lakes states to buy Lake Michigan water.

It would cost the city around $78 million to make the switch from ground water wells to a lake supply. The price tag includes building a pipeline to discharge treated wastewater to Underwood Creek in Wauwatosa.

One piece of the application that was not done in time for a Dec. 8 meeting is an analysis of the impact to Underwood Creek's water quality if the city discharges to the small stream.

Underwood Creek is a tributary of the Menomonee River and the waterways would return the treated waste water back to Lake Michigan, as required under a Great Lakes protection compact.

About Don Behm

Don Behm reports on Milwaukee County government, Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District, the environment and communities in southeastern Wisconsin. He has won reporting awards for investigations of Great Lakes water pollution, Milwaukee's cryptosporidiosis outbreak, and the deaths of three sewer construction workers in a Menomonee Valley methane explosion.